There are so many ways to have the perfect taco at this Kansas City, Kansas, market

Editor’s note: Welcome to our new series, Let’s Dish, Kansas City, showcasing some of our favorite restaurant meals.

I have noticed, in recent years, that Kansas Citians have begun to talk about taquerias in the same way they’ve long talked about barbecue joints. Everybody has their favorite spot, the more obscure the better. Most of them are in Kansas City, Kansas, the Mexican food mecca of the Midwest.

My go-to is Carniceria y Tortilleria San Antonio, which is probably one of the more popular destinations on the KCK Taco Trail, a list published by that city’s tourism bureau. As the name suggests, it is a butcher shop and a place to get fresh tortillas. But it is also a grocery market and a taqueria with counter service. Owner Victor Contreras opened it in 2005 at 830 Kansas Ave. in KCK’s Armourdale neighborhood, and it is very much a family business, staffed by several members of the Contreras clan. (Contreras used to be one of the owners of San Antonio Meat Market, on Independence Avenue, but that is now owned by one of his brothers.)

Over the years, I have explored the menu, which includes burritos, tortas and tamales. But usually I’m there for the tacos.

They are served completely unadorned: just a soft tortilla with a big helping of meat heaped on it, nothing more. It is on the customers to dress their ideal street taco over at the self-service taco bar, where chopped onions, cilantro, limes, pico de gallo and four different salsas await.

A certain type of customer might consider this “extra work”; I can’t relate to that type of customer. San Antonio’s setup lights up the synapses in the “control freak” zone of my brain. In this blissful environment, I am a scientist of salsas, optimizing every bite.

I don’t like to limit myself to just one meat, so I usually order a barbacoa (shredded beef), a carne asada (steak) and a pastor (marinated pork). If I’m feeling like a hungry boy, I might throw a fourth taco onto the order. Let’s go with deshebrada (more beef). For a drink, maybe a mineragua or a media litro of Coca Cola. The tacos are $3. We’re not breaking the bank here.

The other thing I buy at San Antonio is flour tortillas, for home cooking. The tacos are served on corn tortillas, but their flour tortillas are just as good, if not better. San Antonio opens early, at 6 a.m., and closes late, at 10 p.m., and all day long there are employees in the back working in shifts making tortillas. Contreras told me they go through 250 pounds of flour every day. They sell the tortillas in bags of 10 up near the checkout counter.

I go to San Antonio as much for the vibe as I do the food. The tables and chairs in the seating area are big and wooden and chunky, fit for a log cabin. It’s usually pretty busy, but rarely too busy. While I wait for my order, I browse the market. I stare at the pig snouts in the butcher window. Occasionally I’ll pick up something I’m unlikely to find elsewhere: Mexican sweet bread, shredded coconut by the bag. Like a good bar, San Antonio is a place I wind up after good days and bad days — when I’m in a celebratory mood and when I want to drown my sorrows in avocado sauce.

I’m still exploring the fabulous taquerias of Kansas City, Kansas, making my way along that taco trail. Maybe one day I’ll eat a tastier taco somewhere else. Maybe there is some other place that would make me feel as good as I feel when I’m squeezing lime juice all over my plate at San Antonio. I have to say, though: That seems impossible.

This story was originally published January 5, 2023 at 5:30 AM.

David Hudnall

The Kansas City Star

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David Hudnall is a columnist for The Star’s Opinion section. He is a Kansas City native and a graduate of the University of Missouri. He was previously the editor of The Pitch and Phoenix New Times.